Letting Go of Work In Retirement

Since taking early retirement in October 2007, I've experienced three stages of letting go of work.   Here are the three stages:

1. Career.  This was the easiest for me.   To people that inquire whether I consult in my field, I answer, "If I wanted to continue doing the same work, I wouldn't have retired."   I left my career behind on the day that I retired, and I don't miss it.  There's a very small chance that I may do some work in my career field again, but it's a very, very small chance.
2. Second career.  It was a little harder to let go of a second career.  When I retired, I had visions of starting a second career in a new field, specifically in an area I would love.  I tried a number of new jobs:  seasonal tax preparation, tutoring for college entrance exams, after school science program, and county park service representative. Although the work was goo,  I soon learned that doing what I though I loved didn't pay much.  So it wasn't worth the effort to start a second career.
3. Working to live.  My toughest letting go was having no income from work, which I tested  in mid 2012.  Due to the Great Recession, I've never been comfortable with not working to pay for some living expenses, even though our financial advisor was confident about our retirement situation.  Some readers have accused my of not really retiring based on my part time work schedule which sometimes exceeded 40 hours in a week.  However during summer 2012, I had stopped working all my part time jobs and I now feel confident enough to depend entirely on our retirement savings.  By mid 2013, I expect to transition to working only one part time job for 2-4 hours a month, since I still find the work to be fun.

For reference, I still haven't completely let go of a second career, but instead of actively searching for it, I'm going to wait for it to find me :-)

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This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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